Effects of a Claustrophobic and a Genius in Exile
by etherealdiscord
Summary: Why He wanted her best friend and little brother locked in a closet was beyond her... COMPLETE. Finally.
1. Chapter One

**Title:** Untitled

**Author:** Payton Tyler

**Email:** darkserene at glitterbomb dot com

**Pairing:** Usual. Adam/Joan, Grace/Luke

**Rating:** PG -13

**Season:** 2

**Spoilers: **"Only Connect", "Out of Sight", "Back to the Garden", "The Cat", "The Election", "POV", "Friday Night" and the one I can't remember the name of to be safe. Others may come at a later date.

**Disclaimer:** I only own the storyline. I'm just playing with Barbara Hall's toys. I'll feed them and treat them well, promise.

**Summary: **Why He wanted her best friend and little brother locked in a closet was beyond her, maybe it was just for entertainment, the two of them trapped in a small space together had to be amusing to say the least, but she figured something important would probably happen while the two were in there...

**Dedication: **Dimished-9th for saying such nice things and writing such nice stories.

**Author's Notes:** I'm sorry. I just, I had to. It's sort of like a brain filter. Clearing all those ideas floating around in my head so I'll be set for NaNo next month.

"Ow! Can you watch where you're going?"

"The lights are off, I can't see."

"Well try, you just backed me into a mop."

"Sorry. Hey, don't we have to meet the others for lunch?"

"We don't -have- to. Besides, there's something going on with them, and I don't want to get caught up in the tension."

"You noticed it too? Maybe we should try to talk to them."

"Do you think that they'll actually admit that something's up? You know them, you know they wont."

"You have a point."

"Of course I do. Hey! Hands!"

"That's not your face?"

"No! Up a little higher! Dude!" Grace exclaimed, pushing Luke into the door of the supply closet. The two heard the door make a click and their eyes grew wide. Luke spun around and pulled on the handle, the door not opening.

"Oh.. shit.." Grace said quietly. "We're locked in, aren't we?" Receiving no answer, she repeated; "Aren't we?"

"No.. Not locked in.. The door just wont open.."

"That means we're locked in!"

"Well.. Someone will come along and let us out soon. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried. ...How soon is soon?" Luke arched an eyebrow.

"You're claustrophobic, aren't you?"

"No I'm not claustrophobic. I just don't like small spaces for long periods of time." Luke smiled.

"That's claustrophobia," he told her. She sighed and slid down against the wall.

"Okay, so I'm claustrophobic, happy? Now can we get out of here?"

"How?"

"I don't know, pound on the door, get someone to hear us? Find something in here to pick the lock? It is a supply closet. Maybe your sister and Rove will need a place to make out and get us out of here?" Luke shrugged.

"Maybe."

-------

"Okay.. This is weird," Joan said to Adam as the two entered their phyics class. "Luke's not here yet. And he and Grace never showed up for lunch. Do you think they're off somewhere together?"

"I don't know, yo."

"Stranger things have happened," Joan told him as they took their seats.

-------

"Well.. look at it this way, you're getting out of physics," Luke joked, earning a glare from Grace.

"Being in physics or being locked in a closet with you. Tough choice," Grace muttered.

"Do you hate me?"

"What?"

"I asked if you hate me."

"No I don't hate you. Why?"

"Well when you say things like that, and do things like this," he opened his bag, now laying on Grace's in the far corner of the closet and pulled out the confidentiality contract, "what do you expect me to think?" Grace stared at him for a moment, then stood and walked to the door, and began pounding furiously on it.

"Someone get me out of here!" she shouted.

---

"Ms. Lischak? Can I have a bathroom pass?" Joan asked. Ms. Lischak nodded and pulled a pad of passed out of her pocket, filling it out and handing it to Joan. She accepted it and left the room.

"Joan?" a voice asked as she made her way to the bathroom. She spun around to see Cute Guy God standing behind her.

"Great, God wants me to do something. Must be Friday. What?" she asked.

"Just don't open the supply closet door," He told her.

"Should I even bother to ask why?" Joan called after Him as He walked in the opposite direction, giving Joan His signature wave. Joan shook her head and continued her walk. She was about half way to the bathroom when she heard a strange pounding noise coming from behind the supply closet door. As she stopped to look at it, she heard a familiar voice exclaim, "Someone get me out of here!"

"Grace?" Joan asked as she approached the door.

"Girardi, open the door and get me out!"

"How did you get locked in the supply closet?" Joan asked. She was somehow certain Grace was glaring at someone on the other side of the door. "Is Luke in there with you?" she asked.

"Yes," was the muffled response Joan received. It was all she could do not to crack up.

"I knew something was going on with you two!" she said.

"Shut up and get us out of here," Grace responded. Joan reached out for the handle, then remembered that God had told her not to open the door. Why He wanted her best friend and little brother locked in a closet was beyond her, maybe it was just for entertainment, the two of them trapped in a small space together had to be amusing to say the least, but she figured something important would probably happen while the two were in there.

"Uh, sorry guys, the door's locked. I don't have a key. I've got to get back to physics, but I'll look for a janitor to let you out," Joan said.

"What?! No! Girardi!" Grace exclaimed, but Joan was already on her way to the rest room.


	2. Chapter Two

**Authors Note: Yeah, okay, so I wrote another chapter. Imagain that. I should tell you that this takes place between "Back to the Garden" and "The Cat". Okay? Okay. Oh and go check out The Sub Defectives, a joint account between my wonderful friend Magical Turkey and myself. Our stories may be a little twisted, but so are we.**

**Chapter Two:**

"You would think someone would have noticed we were missing by now," Grace muttered.

"Joan probably forgot that we were in here. How are you doing?" Luke asked. Grace glared at him from the other side of the closet.

"I'm claustrophobic, not a cancer patient dude." She slammed the back of her head into the wall she was leaning up against. "It's just a door. We should be able to break it down or something. And we're locked in a supply closet! Shouldn't there be a screw driver or something we could use to get out in here?"

"We already checked. Three times. There isn't anything in here," he told her.

"Well, what about the janitor? Can't there be some blood shed or someone throwing up so the janitor would have to come get a mop?"

"How are you doing?" Luke asked again, earning another glare from Grace.

"Great. I've always wanted to be locked in a closet. I can cross it off the list of things I want to do before I die." The two sighed.

---

"Adam, guess what?" Joan said quietly, re-entering physics.

"Grace and Luke are trapped in a closet!" Joan told him, taking her seat.

"They're trapped in a closet?" Adam asked in disbelief. "Did you let them out?" Joan shook her head.

"The door was locked. I went to go get a janitor. He told me he'd unlock it," Joan lied.

"Why were they in the closet?" Adam asked. Joan shuttered.

"Oh God. I don't even want to think about that. Do you want me to be scarred for life?" Joan asked, causing Adam to laugh.

"Miss Girardi, Mr. Rove. Could you continue this conversation after class?" Lischak asked, hitting the table with her pointer.

"Sorry," the two responded.

---

"What are you doing?" Luke asked as he watched Grace dig through her backpack.

"Searching for something flammable. I'm going to send up a flare," she muttered. Luke's eyes grew large. Grace look up from her bag.

"I'm joking geek. I might as well find something occupying if we're going to be stuck in here," she told him, pulling her physics notebook from her bag. After reading over a few notes, she looked up again.

"Stop doing that," she told him.

"Stop doing what?" Luke asked.

"Giving me that look. It's freaking me out a little," she responded.

"What look?" Luke asked.

"You know what look I'm talking about. It's the same look you were giving me at that party a few weeks ago."

"Oh," Luke said, still clueless as to what look she was talking about. Grace turned her attention back to her notebook for a moment, but then slammed it shut and shoved it in her bag.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

"Stop asking me that!" Grace snapped.

"Sorry," Luke said quietly, looking around the closet. Grace sighed.

"Why? You didn't do anything." The two looked at each other in silence.

AN: Wasn't all that sure where to end, so why not end here. TBC.


	3. Chapter Three

**Authors Note: Here we are again! I'm on a roll. Somehow, I do the best writing when I have three stories going at once. Weird. I'm glad you guys are all liking the story. And props to Allie for thinking up the title. Isn't it a cool name? Oh.. Just for the record, I don't write hot closet sex, so get that out of your mind. ::looks at various people:: You know who you are. So, I'm thinking about starting a C2. Anyone up for one?**

**Chapter Three**

"I bet she forgot about us," Grace told Luke a half an hour later. Luke nodded.

"I'm starting to agree. What time is it?" Luke asked.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you have a watch," he told her. She looked down at her wrist.

"Oh. Yeah. Uhm, 11:45," she told him. "I'm going to go insane if we're in here any longer."

"Someone will get us out soon," he told her.

"They better. I've got better things to do than sit in a closet all day bored out of my mind."

"I'm sure there's something we could do in here to make time pass faster," Luke commented. Grace raised an eyebrow.

"You've got to stop hanging out with Friedman dude," she told him.

"That's not what I meant," he told her. Grace cleared her throat and glanced around the room, looking everywhere but at him, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Is it me, or does this closet seem smaller?" she asked.

"It's you," he told her.

"Right. Of course. Small spaces. Great." Luke got up and walked across the closet and sat next to her. "If you ask me how I'm doing, I'm going to hurt you," she told him.

"I figured," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. Much to his surprise, she didn't push him away.

"So.." Luke started, "You're an only child, right?"

"Yeah. Why?" she asked.

"Well, all I know about your family is that your dad is a rabbi. I'm just curious."

"Trust me, the less you know, the better," she said.

"How come?" he asked.

"Because," she said, "Can we change the subject?" Luke nodded.

"You know.. If you ever want to talk about anything, I'm here," he told her. She looked up at him.

"Yeah," she said.

AN: TBC.. Okay. The week of the 19th, don't expect any updates. Nothing to do with the holidays, everything to do with an algebra midterm that will put me to an early grave. Just a warning.


	4. Chapter Four

**Authors Note: These chapters have been far to short. Hrm. I should fix that, eh? And early Happy Hanukkah all. Even if you aren't Jewish, early Happy Hanukkah anyway.**

**Chapter Four**

"We could sue," Grace said. Luke looked at her.

"Sue who? And why?"

"Sue the school because of the quality of the locks on their doors. We could suffocate in here," she told him.

"We're not going to suffocate," he said.

"You don't know that. Think about it. You have no idea how long we're going to be in here for."

"We're not going to be in here long enough to suffocate Grace. And if we did suffocate, we couldn't sue the school." She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh don't get all logical on me," she told him.

"Sorry," he responded.

"And stop apologizing!"

"S.. Okay."

"For the record, once we get out of here, we are _never _making out on school grounds again," she told him.

"We could find another place," Luke told her. She shook her head.

"I'm never going in another closet again."

"I've got the keys to the science storge room. It's just as big as a regular classroom. And if we get locked in, we've got the keys."

"How did you get the keys to the science storge room?" she asked.

"Science student of the year," he said.

"You're such a geek," she told him, smiling.

"I am a geek, aren't I?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, standing up and walking towards the door. She giggled the doorknob, then leaned down to further inspect it.

"If we can find something skinny and flat, we could probably get the doorknob off," she commented. Luke stood up and made his way over to her.

"You know carperntry?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I've gotten people out of locked rooms before," she said. "I don't believe there's no screwdriver in here." Grace wandered towards the back of the closet and began digging through the supplies.

"Who have you gotten out of a locked room?" Luke asked, following her.

"Oh.. erm.. Rove. He use to get trapped in his shed a lot," she covered.

"Right," he said as he began helping her search for something to open the door with. Reaching for a box, his foot caught on a mop and he and the mop both went crashing to the floor. Startled by the sudden crash, Grace spun around to see Luke hit the ground, landing on the mop. She laughed and kneeled down next to him.

"Having fun with the mop?" she asked. He pushed himself up and rolled the mop across the room, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's not funny," he muttered. She nodded.

"It kind of is," she told him. He thought about it for a moment.

"I guess it kind of is," he said, looking at her. He reached his hand out and placed it on her face, pulling her to him and kissing her.

TBC


	5. Chapter Five

**Authors Note:** So it's been forever. And all I did was take this chapter, tear it apart and throw in some new stuff. It's over. What better time to wrap up your most put off story than vacation, eh? Enjoy. And feel free to kill me for the long wait.

**Chapter Five  
**

So, apparently oxygen was important.

"We need to get out of here," Grace said, pulling away from Luke, her lungs screaming for fresh oxygen.

"Why?" Luke asked as he leaned his forehead against hers. Why? Was her seriously asking that? For a genius, he was such an idiot.

"Because we're stuck in a closet," she told him. "We can't stay in here forever." No matter how nice that sounded.

"Joan said she'd get us out," Luke told her. Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and that was what? An hour ago? Face it dude, she isn't coming back, we need to find a way out of here on our own. Because I don't want to stay in school, in the supply closet no less, any longer than I need to. Not too fond of small spaces, remember?" Luke nodded, about to respond when the two heard someone open the door.

"That had better be your sister," Grace said quietly. The two sunk further down against the back wall, attempting to not be seen by whoever had opened the door.

"This is your last warning Mr. Deaton. If I catch you vandalizing school property one more time, I'm expelling you."

"You have got to be kidding," Grace said under her breath. Out of all of the students and staff at the school, the one person who had to open the door was Price. It was times like these that life seriously sucked. The person Price had been talking to entered the closet, muttering some rather colorful choice words about Price under his breath and picked up a bucket from the stack of cleaning supplies in front of Grace and Luke. He then looked around the room unenthusiastically and back at Price, shrugging.

"No mop," he said. The two exchanged a look. This was just not good.

"Did you bother to look?" Price asked, entering the closet himself. The student shrugged.

"Yeah?" he said, more asking than saying he had. Grace could almost hear Price roll his eyes.

"Check behind the stack, and hurry up," Price commanded. Well.. That was it. The only left to do was get caught. He sighed and walked behind the stack, tripping over Luke's out stretched legs. He let out a shout as he fell to the ground, landing face first on that damned mop.

"What's going on back there?" Price asked, stepping behind the stack himself and spotting the three on the floor.

"Miss Polk," he said, looking down at Grace and not sounding the least bit surprised. Grace looked up at him, putting on a fake smile.

"Hello Gavin," she said.

"And Mr. Girardi," Price added, ignoring Grace. "Both of you, out. I expect to see the two of you in detention this afternoon. I thought you'd have better taste in friends Mr. Girardi." Grace stood up and grabbed Luke's arm, pulling him up with her and dragging him out of the closet.

"I just got detention," Luke said, sounding amazed.

"Yeah, I guess I'm rubbing off on you," Grace said with a smirk as the bell went off.

"Get to class. Both of you. Now," Price told the two.

Grace slammed her bag down and sunk into her desk next to Joan.

"Miss Polk, why are you tardy?" the English teacher asked as Grace pulled her headphones from her bag.

"I'm tardy because am protesting against the nature of clocks," she responded. Joan smirked.

"I expect to see you in detention tonight." Grace shrugged.

"Can't. Already booked up on detentions for the rest of the week."

"One would think you would learn from that," the teacher said, beginning the lesson before Grace could respond.

"How did you get out?" Joan asked Grace quietly once the teacher had turned her back to write something on the chalk board.

"Price let us out," Grace told her. Joan winced.

"How many detentions did he give you guys?"

"He's making us serve time after school today."

"My mother is going to freak out. What were you guys doing in there anyway?"

"According to the detention slips we were in the closet 'engaging in improper conduct'." Joan froze for a minute.

"Seriously? That's disgusting. You were making out with my brother?"

"Girardi, Polk, would you care to share this conversation with the rest of the class?" the teacher snapped.

"Not really," Grace said.

"Then I suggest you finish it after the bell." Grace rolled her eyes and put on her headphones, glancing over at Joan one last time and enjoying the look of disgust she had on her face at the thought of her brother and her best friend.

Yeah, she definitely wouldn't be telling Joan anytime soon..

End-


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